Chapter 63: You Dare to Fight Me Without Even Understanding the Gap in Our Strength?

Soon, the time arrived for the afternoon match session.

Today was the final of the freshman assessment. Glancing around, Ning Wuque spotted an elderly man in a distant grandstand gnawing on a roasted chicken leg. The old man's gaze was fixed on him, seemingly appraising him.

Standing right beside him was a middle-aged man with an impeccably serious appearance and demeanor, who should be Yan Shaozhe, the dean of Shrek Academy's outer courtyard.

Regarding this, Ning Wuque's evaluation of the two was that they were a pair of individuals with utterly abysmal reputations, and Yan Shaozhe, in particular, had been involved in more than one baffling incident.

The most notorious one was probably referred to as "fathering a wicked soul master with a single shot."

It was just... quite baffling.

"Announce the names of both participating teams."

The two teams entered the arena. Ning Wuque stood at the very front of his formation, with Wu Feng at his side and Ning Tian behind him. Walking toward them from the opposite side were three individuals led by Dai Huabin.

A big cat, a small cat, and a fox.

"Dai Huabin."
"Zhu Lu."
"Cui Yajie."

"Ning Tian."
"Ning Wuque."
"Wu Feng."

As the two teams announced their names, Ning Wuque keenly noticed the irrepressible excitement and fighting spirit in Dai Huabin's eyes; this big cat seemed to regard him as a target for challenge and was eager to try his skills.

So confident in himself?

"Match begin!"

"White Tiger Guardian Shield, White Tiger Vajra Transformation, you are not allowed to move!"

Issuing a command backward in an imperious tone, Dai Huabin underwent martial soul avatar transformation as his dazzling blond hair transformed into black-and-white tiger fur, and he lunged straight toward Ning Wuque with extended sharp claws.

Opposite him, Ning Wuque, seeing that his opponent desired a one-on-one duel, was more than happy to oblige. After all, this saved him from having to use a martial soul fusion skill.

"I'll handle this myself."

Uttering these words casually, Ning Wuque was extremely confident in himself. Without even activating his martial soul, he cast aside all restraint, took a forward step, and charged straight ahead.

Boom!

Their fists collided, producing a dull thud as Ning Wuque's fist met Dai Huabin's. He took two steps backward; in terms of pure physical strength, his current state was simply no match for Dai Huabin.

The White Tiger martial soul was truly formidable.

"Show me your full strength!"

After the clash of fists, the two sides separated by a distance. Seeing that Ning Wuque had no intention of getting serious, Dai Huabin let out an angry roar, utterly furious.

He had long since heard of this person named Ning Wuque, and had even engaged in extra training precisely to be able to fight him. To ensure fairness, he hadn't even bothered to watch a single one of Ning Wuque's soul duel matches.

The only piece of information he grasped was the single fact that Ning Wuque's physical body was on par with soul beasts.

Now it seemed those rumors were indeed true!

"Full strength? There's no need for that. You are strong, which makes you worthy of me getting serious to fight you."

Shaking his head slightly and paying no heed to whatever Dai Huabin was thinking, Ning Wuque entered his martial soul avatar state. Two purple thousand-year soul rings rose from beneath his feet:

"First soul skill, Blood-Inducing Vitality; second soul skill, Dark Gold Beetle Might!"

Activating his martial soul, Ning Wuque showed Dai Huabin the utmost respect. He would use three punches to show him what the biggest mistake he made in this match was!

"Kaa—"

The chirping of insects roared within his spiritual sea. A strong will, accompanied by the guidance of his martial soul, enveloped Ning Wuque's already formidable fists, pushing their inherent strength and hardness to yet another level!

Chua—

The sound of the air being rent reverberated. Ning Wuque took the initiative to launch an attack, stomped the ground, swung his left fist with five times his baseline strength, and lunged toward Dai Huabin's chest.

The latter assumed this punch was at most thirty percent stronger than before the martial soul activation.

He didn't take it seriously, intending to use his own physique to take Ning Wuque's blow head-on, while retaliating by aiming his tiger claws at Ning Wuque's head in an attempt to break through the opponent's guard and force him to retreat defensively.

But it was too late.

Ning Wuque had no intention of defending at all. Having his face scratched open simply meant applying some ointment; he was nowhere near as attached to his facial appearance as he was to his desire for strength.

Dong!

The fist reached the flesh ahead of the claws. The exact second before Ning Wuque's face was scratched by Dai Huabin, his fist landed solidly against Dai Huabin's undefended chest.

"Puff—ah!"

Visceral fragments mixed with blood spewed out in a mouthful. Dai Huabin's eyes widened, and his gaze gradually rolled upward, turning white.

Ning Wuque's eyes widened just as much.

Wait, was this kid really not afraid that this single punch would cripple him? Not defending at all? Meeting force with absolute recklessness?

Courageous! Utterly courageous!

"Huabin—!"

In the distance, seeing her fiancé knocked into a state of shock and severe injury by a single punch, Zhu Lu cried out in alarm. Then, a figure arrived at Ning Wuque and Dai Huabin's side faster than her, yanked Dai Huabin away, and sprinted rapidly toward the healing soul master not far off.

It was the referee!

He had anticipated that Dai Huabin would take Ning Wuque's punch head-on, but he had never imagined that Ning Wuque's punch was simply not something an ordinary soul elder could withstand.

Even a top-tier beast martial soul like the White Tiger could not endure it while completely undefended.

And so, this match accident occurred: Ning Wuque's single punch nearly sent Dai Huabin to meet his ancestor who had attained godhood.

"That guy was truly courageous. I thought I'd have to throw at least three punches to knock some sense into him."

Standing in place, Ning Wuque gazed at Zhu Lu, who was filled with anger and looked as if she wanted to eliminate him on the spot, and spoke slowly:

"Concede defeat. When he wakes up, tell him that failing to choose the martial soul fusion skill at the very first moment was a manifestation of blind confidence and arrogance, and misjudging the enemy's strength was his greatest mistake.

Daring to challenge me without figuring out the disparity in strength? He never had even a one-in-ten-thousand chance of winning! Confidence is a good thing, but life is like walking along the edge of a boundless cliff; a single wrong step leads to an abyss of eternal damnation."

"...We... concede."

Clenching her fists tightly, Zhu Lu could only glare resentfully at Ning Wuque before admitting defeat and surrendering.

Without Dai Huabin, she and Cui Yajie together couldn't even get past Wu Feng's line of defense.

The referee's whistle did not sound because he was currently too worried about whether his livelihood would be lost.

The arena fell into a dead silence. Just as everyone was looking forward to this fierce battle in the finals, and even when Ning Tian had intended to concede before the match, Dai Huabin did something completely unexpected that turned all their expectations into a bubble.

This guy... actually used his mortal body to withstand the willful, heavy strike of Ning Wuque's five-fold punch!

"We... won just like that?"

Without any cheers, Wu Feng looked at the approaching Ning Wuque, somewhat puzzled. They won just like that?

In response, Ning Wuque nodded:

"Yes, we won."

"How boring. Let's go eat Yuhao's barbecue."

"Not yet, Wind Sis, we still have to wait until the award ceremony is over before we can leave, you know."

Shaking her head, Ning Tian hadn't expected the finals to end in such a dramatic fashion. What was this supposed to be?

Clearly, the opponents could have easily secured a team victory just by unleashing a major ultimate move, but instead, they chose to keep using basic attacks and fooling around until they lost contact?

Compared to Dai Huabin's older brother, Dai Yueheng, was this guy just as impulsive, reckless, and blindly confident as Wu Feng?

The standards of this generation's Nether White Tiger are truly worrying.

Soon, the tardy referee finally announced the match result:

"The champion of the finals is the team of Ning Tian, Ning Wuque, and Wu Feng!"